The Rise and Stagnation of Prestige Horror Movies

The fact of the matter is that prestige horror is not as consistent and promising as it was in the late 2010s when movies like Hereditary and Us were performing well across the board. What once seemed like a perfect formula for simultaneous commercial and critical success has now become a mixed bag. Sometimes, they hit, but oftentimes, they come across as derivative. The few films within this subgenre that do manage to resonate culturally (Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance and Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu, to name a couple from last year) are the ones from filmmakers with distinct visions, who seek to do more than capitalize on the trend of “elevating” horror. 

What Makes a True Prestige Horror Film?

The success of Get Out may have been surprising at the time, but it was not unprecedented. There have been numerous horror films throughout the history of cinema that have managed to transcend perceived genre limitations and attract a broader audience. For instance, The Exorcist was likely a close second to winning the “Best Picture” Oscar in 1974. Meanwhile, The Silence of the Lambs famously won the category in 1992. 

Prestige horror films have always existed, but the recent renaissance has largely been defined by two key contributing factors. First, the subject matter often features, by design and without much subtlety, urgent social commentary or profound themes. Second, these films tend to be helmed by unique visionaries with fresh voices and distinctive brands.

In the mid-to-late 2010s, while Get Out was being developed at Blumhouse Productions, A24 was also perfecting the prestige horror formula. With the one-two punch of Hereditary and Midsommar, two psychological horror films packed with dense themes of grief and trauma, the indie and cultish production company introduced audiences to the unsettling mind of Ari Aster. The same can be said for Robert Eggers, whose first few films were produced by A24. Those movies (The Witch, in particular) balanced classic horror fare with startling historical accuracy. Eggers would bring that same sensibility to last year’s adaptation of Nosferatu.

This blend of auteur-driven filmmaking (which some might call pretentious) with traditional jump-scares brought about an exciting following both critically and commercially. A generation of cinephiles, critics, and audiences were now attracted to the horror genre to see what auteurs like Aster and Eggers have churned up next when they otherwise might have avoided the genre entirely beforehand. However, it would not be long before this formula started to become repetitive and stale. 

Why Prestige Horror Is Not Working As Well Anymore

By the 2020s, a number of projects tried and failed to jump onto the prestige horror bandwagon. Antebellum and They/Them are just two examples of films that attempted to capitalize on trendy social issues with a horror twist, only to receive dismal box office receipts and reviews.

Sure, prestige horror is still in vogue… when it works. The problem is that it doesn’t work as consistently anymore. In fact, it’s traditional horror without any prestige elements that has proven to be more reliable these days at the box office. For instance, despite what headlines might suggest, the highest-grossing horror movie of 2025 thus far is not Sinners. It’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, the ninth film in The Conjuring universe and the most successful entry in the franchise to date. Not far behind Sinners is the latest Final Destination film.

These films do not seek to “elevate” horror in any way. If anything, they lean fully into the tropes of the genre unapologetically. After all, you don’t go and see Final Destination for social commentary. You go for the gore! These box office numbers seem to indicate that the vast majority of audiences prefer horror films that don’t apologize for being horror films or that condescend to the viewer.

So why are some of these latest attempts at prestige horror not working as well? Of course, a film’s success is not entirely predictable. However, if you look at the prestige horror films that did tap into the zeitgeist this year, they tended to be filmmaker forward. The difference between a hit like Sinners and a flop like Opus is that one has an undeniably unique vision from Ryan Coogler while the other looks like a parody of an A24 film with nothing new to add to the trend. 

For fellow folks who genuinely love prestige horror, the best we can hope for is a commitment to unique premises from new filmmakers. It will be hard to recreate the success of Sinners and Weapons by dressing up something cheap and subpar as a potential follow-up. That will come across as desperate and predictable. Instead, production companies need to find the next Ari Aster and the next Robert Eggers. It’s the director’s distinct vision, not the trendy hot button issue, that ultimately appeals to the “high art” crowd without alienating the horror fanbase. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be about following the trend, it should be about making something good.

_{via @DiscussingFilm}